


Push & Pull

by pearlsong



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Depression, F/F, F/M, M/M, Recreational Drug Use, The Princess and The Bartender au, Therapy, not slow burn this time kiddos we're getting right to the fucking, shikamaru is a mess of a person, temari is a wild child who cannot be stopped by baki or common dencency
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-20
Updated: 2018-07-11
Packaged: 2019-05-25 18:58:58
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 13,177
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14983496
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pearlsong/pseuds/pearlsong
Summary: "Oh my god, I've been sleeping with a princess." Shikamaru said, horrified."Yeah? And?" Temari asked."The fact that you don't see a problem here is troubling."





	1. Animal Magnitism

**Author's Note:**

> Soooo, I lied. I had to start this to get it out of my system before I finished The Levels On Which We Lie. I'm definitely going to finish that, but I just needed to start this, or I was gonna go crazy.
> 
> This AU is basically princess!Temari and bartender!Shikamaru. I hope you enjoy this AU as much as I've enjoyed thinking about it.

Shikamaru should have never let Ino convince him to go clubbing.

It was Saturday night, and the club was cooking. He had worked all damn morning at Icha Icha’s, a hole in the wall bar, and the last thing he had wanted to do was stand on his feet all night, and watch a bunch of drunk people dry hump each while he had to remain sober. Damn him, and his propensity for making promises he knew he would end up regretting.

All of his friends seemed to be enjoying themselves: Sakura, Ino, Kiba, and Naruto were tearing up the dance floor. Chouji and Tenten were knocking back the drinks, Lee was enthusiastically chatting with the bemused bartender while Hinata stood by, people watching. Shikamaru should have taken a page out of Shino’s book and stayed home to do literally anything else.

An arm wrapped around his shoulder. “Shikaaamaruuuuu,” Ino cooed.

He sighed, “Yeah?”

“You look like you’re having a terrible time.”

He glanced down at the water bottle in his hand, “Really wishing had something stronger.”

She slapped his back, “You’re fine. You can muddle through it. Anyways, I stopped dancing with my hot girlfriend long enough to tell you something.”

Oh, he didn’t like this. “And what would that be?”

Ino regarded him seriously; he could tell she was lit as hell, “For my birthday, I want you to get yourself a piece of ass tonight. That would be the best present you could give me.”

He nodded his head, “There’s a few problems with that, Ino.”

“Like what?”

“One, your birthday was two weeks, and we already celebrated it. Two, I went in halfway with Chouji on those needlessly expensive heels you wanted so I don’t need to get you another present—“

“And they’re AWESOME, I love them so much,” Ino lifted her leg up to show off her sleek, black stilettos that put Shikamaru back about $150. “You’re such a good friend, I love you—“

“And three,” he cut her off, “I rather not.”

“Don’t be such a spoilsport,” Ino whined, shaking his shoulders, “You’re over here so tense, and miserable. Find yourself a sexy lady to dance up on, then take her back to your place to have your way with her.”

“No.”

Sakura wandered over to them, very drunk, “Ino come on, it’s OUR song! We have to get down.”

“Sakura, my pink cupcake, I love you. You’re so perfect.” Ino gave her a big, sloppy kiss, then pulled her back to the dance floor.

Shikamaru shook his head, watching their retreating backs. He glanced at his phone. It was almost midnight and he just wanted to go home. Everyone looked to be busy, so maybe they wouldn’t notice if he slipped out. Suddenly, he felt a pair of eyes on him. He looked up and met the gaze of a woman who was across the way from him. First thing Shikmaru noticed was that she was drop-dead gorgeous. The second was how short her dress was, and how long the heels she wore made her legs look. The third was the shark-like grin that spread across her face when their eyes met.

Uh oh.

She approached him, hips swaying like a metronome; his eyes followed their movements. He quietly chastised himself for staring, and desperately hoped that she wasn’t about to ask him to dance. “Hey there,” she greeted him, hip cocked to the side, hand resting on it.

“Sup.” He sucked down some water to keep his hands busy; they wanted to roam the curves of her body, but he needed to not be animal, and keep them to himself.

She stood a little closer to him to speak; the music was a little loud and it was hard to hear her otherwise, “I think we might be the only sober people in here.”

He noticed that she too was carrying a water bottle, “Probably. My friends made me come out here tonight. I didn’t have any intent on drinking. It’s a real drag.”

“Those your friends?” The woman pointed at the grouping of Ino and everyone. Lee was attempting to dance, with Naruto and Kiba egging him on. It was a complete, and utter disaster.

“Unfortunately.”

She laughed; it was obnoxious, but because she was so close, her breath made his hair stand on end. “Someone needs to go cut off Eyebrows’, he’s had too much.”

“That guy is 100% sober, I’m sorry to say.”

“That’s unfortunate.”

“Tell me about it. I feel bad for the people he’s flailing into.”

She chuckled again. Shikamaru studied her face; yeah, she was beautiful. There was something wild about her eyes, and the way her grin spread across her face lightning-fast made his heart speed up. He wanted to get closer, wanted to feel her pressed against him. Shikamaru leaned into her ear, “What’s your name?”

“Temari. What’s your’s, stranger?”

“Shikamaru.”

“Well, Shikamaru, do you smoke?”

“Depends on what you’re asking about.” Temari pulled out a crumpled pack of smokes from her jacket pocket. “Oh yeah, I could go for a cigarette.” Without another word, she took his hand and led him outside with her.

The air was chilly compared to the stuffy heat of the club. Shikamaru pulled out his zippo and own pack of cigarettes, “I’ll be real with you, I thought you were coming over to ask me to dance.”

“I take it you don’t dance?”

“I’m patently terrible at it.”

Temari adjusted her pigtails, and Shikamaru was overcome with the urge to pull them out and run his hands through her hair, “If we’re keeping it real, I wasn’t even going to bother. You look like you don’t have an ounce of rhythm in your body.”

He scowled, “How does someone look like they can’t dance.”

Her bright teal eyes reflect the neon lights of the club’s sign, “You just have an aura about you that screams your inability to do even the Macarena.”

“Hey? Eat a dick.”

“Maybe later, if you’re good.”

Shikamaru almost inhaled his cigarette, and stared at the smirk that graced her face. “Is that an offer?”

“I don’t know,” she plucked the cigarette out of his mouth, then stepped close to him, their chests almost touching, “Is it?”

He didn’t know what it was about her that made him ache to touch her. Her aura was dripped with pure sex appeal, and all he wanted was to taste her. Shikamaru took the cigarette out of her hand, threw it to the ground, and then pulled her close, claiming her lips with his. She responded immediately, pressing herself against him, sliding her tongue into his mouth.

She broke off to look him in the eyes, her gaze fierce, body radiating an indescribable amount of want, “Take me home with you.” It wasn’t a question, it was a command.

“Bossy woman,” he muttered, before kissing her one more time. “My apartment is a couple blocks away, we could walk—“

“We’ll take my car,” she interrupted, “I’m not leaving it out of my sight.” She laced their fingers together and tugged him towards the parking lot. Shikamaru assumed she probably drove a cute, average car, but was almost knocked over when she approached a sleek, black Audi, unlock the doors with a push of a button.

“Nice car,” he said weakly.

“Thanks,” she grinned at him, “Perks of the job.”

That made him fleetingly curious as to what she did for a living, but when they got into the car, and she slid her hand up his thigh to palm his erection while sticking her tongue back down his throat, the sharp desire to rip her clothes off and fuck her senselessly took over his brain, and the thought was forgotten.

* * *

They barely made it through the apartment door before Temari jumped on him, mouth crashing against his. Her kisses were fast and hard, but he managed to get the door closed and locked before he matched her ferociousness.  


“Put your arms around my neck,” he whispered into her mouth, not wanting to break the kiss long enough to look at her. She did as she was instructed; Shikamaru picked her up by the back of her thighs, and carried her into his room, continuing to make out with her the whole way. He placed her on the bed, and slid his shoes off, followed by his socks. Temari scrabbled at his belt, undoing his pants, not wasting anytime; she pulled his boxers down and out sprang his dick, red and throbbing.

Her mouth descended on him, taking him all the way to the back of her throat while he was in the middle of taking off his shirt, causing him to almost topple over. “Holy shit, do you not have a gag reflex?”

She looked up at him and winked, not stopping her ministrations for a second.

Shikamaru’s hands hovered over her head, unsure if he should grab her while she did her magic. She made the decision for him; in one fluid motion, she pulled both pigtails out, then grabbed his hands and buried them deep within her tresses. Unable to help himself, he thrusted lightly into her mouth. Temari allowed it, but after a few minutes of sucking him off, she pulled back. “Touch me,” she demanded, stroking his spit-covered cock.

He couldn’t say no to that request; he discarded his jeans and boxers, then pulled her to a standing position. With more care than she took with his pants, Shikamaru pulled her dress up over her head, then kissed her throat, using teeth to give her sucking kisses down her neck to her collarbone. His hands ghosted across her skin to her back, unhooking her bra in one try.

“Color me impressed, you got that one in shot,” Temari complimented him as she slid the straps down her shoulders, freeing her breasts.

“It’s not hard. Anyone who says otherwise is stupid.” Her response to that was a throaty moan, as Shikamaru clamped his lips down on one of her nipples and gave a hard suck. She pulled his ponytail out, running her hands through his hair, tugging on his strands, making him use his teeth against her soft skin.

He pushed her down on the bed, she scrambled to get her head against his pillows, anticipating his next move. With two tugs, Shikamaru pulled her heels off and discarded them into the floor; her underwear joined them next. Not one to wait for an engraved invitation, Shikamaru got down between her legs, and placed his mouth against her pussy, sucking on her clit.

She moaned sweetly, and Shikamaru decided that he was into the noises she was making. He kept it up, going between sucking her clit and crooking his finger inside of her, and giving long, slow, lazy licks. She was throbbing in his mouth, and when she came, she grabbed the back of his head and mashed it against her, riding the wave of pleasure out.

When Temari was done, he sat back up on his knees; her bright eyes met his, “Fuck me,” she demanded.

“Top drawer of the nightstand has my condoms.”

Temari leaned over and opened the draw, fishing out a foil packet; she tossed it to him. He ripped it open with his teeth, then pinched the end of the condom and rolled it down his shaft. “Ready?”

“Fuck. Me.” She repeated, lifting her ass up to put a pillow underneath her for better access.

Shikamaru did as he was told, he used his hand to guide his cock to her entrance, and slide inside of her. They both inhaled sharply as he took her to the hilt.

For his part, it had been at least six months since Shikamaru had last had sex. So, he went into this endeavor with the expectation that the feeling of her would be amplified, and that he would have to be careful not to bust so quickly.

What he hadn’t expected was just how intense she would feel. Temari felt perfect. The way she gripped his cock, moaned his name, raked her nails down his back, met his thrusts without losing the rhythm. Shikamaru felt like he was on fire. Unable to stop himself, he picked up the pace, thrusting into her harder and deeper, those throaty moans that tore from her throat music to his ears.

It was all he could do to not just blow his load.

There was nothing else in this world, but her. He pounded into her, his breath coming out in pants. “Fuck,” he groaned, sitting up and pushing her legs towards her. The new angle caused Temari’s moans to get louder, her to tense around him harder. He was not going to last much longer, and he needed to get her off before he made a fucking fool of himself.

As if on cue, Temari sobbed out “Shikamaru!” and he felt her pulse around his dick. He choked out her name, and let go, pouring himself into the condom. He felt white hot all over, like he had plunged off of a cliff and into a sea of lava.

After he finished, Shikamaru sat back up on his knees, slid the condom off, tied the opening off, then took it to the bathroom to the throw it away. When he got back, Temari was already curled up under the covers, almost passed out. Clicking off the lamp beside his bed, Shikamaru crawled in beside her.

“That was awesome,” she mumbled as she turned towards him, lazy, sleepy smile on her face.

“That was pretty fucking fantastic.”

The moon shone through his curtains, casting a pale, blue glow over her. She was so goddamn pretty. He just wanted to hold and kiss her. It wasn’t standard operating procedure for a one-night stand, but Shikamaru couldn’t help himself. “Do you want to, y’know, cuddle?”

Temari regarded him for a moment, as if he were a puzzle. He regretted asking until she scooted closer to him, throwing an arm over his waist. Shikamaru wrapped his arms around her, and nuzzled into her hair.

“G’night,” she whispered.

“Night,” he murmured back, sleep claiming him.

* * *

She got him again twice the next morning.  


He woke up to her hand on his morning wood and a maniac gleam in her eyes. Shikamaru rolled over onto his back while she grabbed the condom, put it on him, and rode him hard.

The second time was in the bathroom. Temari had asked him if he wanted to shower with her, and he couldn’t say no to that face, or deny wanting to be around her while she was naked. They didn’t even make it into the shower. He bent her over the sink, and fucked her from behind, while watching her face in the mirror. When she climaxed, their eyes met in the mirror, and Shikamaru’s own orgasm came up so fast, it left him winded.

After they showered, and got dressed (she stole one of his shirts, basketball shorts, and a pair of flip flops that Ino had left), he made her breakfast. It wasn’t something he did whenever he had one night stands, but Temari just gave him the ride of his life, and she was too cute in his clothes so he couldn’t not feed her.

“These are good pancakes,” she commented as she dug in.

“They’re not pretty, but they’re serviceable.” He leaned against the counter, drinking coffee.

“Can I be real about something?”

“Isn’t that the basis this new friendship has been founded on?”

She smiled at him, “I was watching you last night, and I thought that girl who had her arm around you was your girlfriend until she started making out with that pink-haired chick.”

“Who, Ino? Nah,” he shook his head, “She’s like a sister, and also a lesbian.” He put his cup down beside him, crooked grin sliding across his face, “So, you admit to watching me. How long were you?”

Temari tilted her head and narrowed her eyes at him, “Not long, believe it or not. You caught my eye a little bit after I got in there.”

“Why me?”

“Because you looked miserable.”

Shikamaru scoffed, “And that’s attractive?”

“Not really,” she admitted, “Your face is what’s attractive. I just wanted to know why someone would look so pissed off while in the club.”

He shook his head, “That’s a weird reason.”

“Considering how I rocked your world last night, I wouldn’t complain too much.”

She had him there. “Yeah, yeah, why don’t you brag about it.”

Temari chortled, stuffing the last bite of pancake into her mouth, “Maybe I will.” She glanced down at her phone, “I need to get going, I have to be back in Suna in a reasonable amount of time.”

“You live in Suna?? Why the hell are you in Konoha?”

She shrugged, “Konoha has a better nightlife. Besides, it’s only an hour drive.”

“I guess. That sounds like more trouble than it’s worth.”

“Not really. I can make the drive in my sleep.”

Shikamaru got her a bag to put her clothes from the night before in, then insisted on walking her to her car. This _really_ wasn’t one-night stand procedure, but Shikamaru felt a little different about this one.

They stood in front of her car and smoked.

“I had a good time last night,” she said, puffing on her cigarette

“Me too. We should hang out again sometime.” The words were out of his mouth before he could stop himself.

She looked up at him with blazing eyes, thinking it over. After a beat of silence, she nodded, “You know what? We should. What’s your number?”

They exchanged numbers, texting each other to ensure they got it right.

“Well,” she snubbed out her cigarette, “I better get going.”

He did the same. “Yeah, you’ve got a long drive ahead of you.”

Temari hesitated for a moment, then gave him a chaste kiss on the lips before getting into her car. “I’ll text you when I get home.”

His lips were tingling. “Okay. I’ll see you later.”

She waved, then started her car, and pulled away.

Shikamaru sat and watched her taillights until he realized his phone was buzzing with notifications. Oh, shit, he forgot to tell them where he was. He pulled his phone out, and started answering the avalanche of messages he had.

* * *

It was 10 o’clock in the morning on Wednesday, and Shikamaru was at the same place he always was: laying on the couch in his therapist’s office.  


“So, you had a one-night stand, and now you’re kind of friends?” Asuma asked, leaning back in his chair comfortably.

“Yeah, pretty much.”

Shikamaru had been going to Asuma and Kurenai Sarutobi’s mental health clinic since he was sixteen. His father Shikaku, a decorated police detective, was gunned down alongside his partner, Ino’s father Inoichi, while in pursuit of a suspect. When that happened, Shikamaru went off the deep end, falling into heavy drinking and smoking waaay too much weed.

Shikamaru’s mother made him start going to a therapist when Chouza, Chouji’s dad recommended Asuma to her. At first, Shikamaru was adamantly against it, but after Chouji talked about how much Asuma had helped him, and Shikamaru met the man himself, he decided to give a chance.

Fast forward eight years, and he was still going.

“And you met her…at a club?”

“Yeah. I didn’t drink though. Ino made me promise, and you know how she is if you break your promise.” Ino had been seeing Asuma for the same amount of time as Shikamaru has.

“I do,” he rubbed his chin, “So, I’m guessing this experience was better than your last one-night stand.”

Shikmaru winced when he remembered, “Yeah, that was fucking nightmare.” The girl he brought home turned into a Class 5 Clinger, and he had to have Ino and Sakura to get her to back off. “Unlike that mess, talking with Temari is nice. She’s articulate, and funny. We have similar tastes. She’s also obnoxious and annoying.”

Asuma tilted his head slightly at him, “That’s contradictory.”

“Nah, nah, hear me out,” Shikamaru waved his hand. “She’s a nice person, but she’s loud, brash, and clearly doesn’t give a single fuck about what anyone thinks of her. She told me the other day that she just flew all over some guy at her work because he was being a shithead. Apparently, he’s some big wig, but she said she didn’t care, he was being a dickhole.”

“Where does she work at?”

“See, that’s the thing. I don’t know. She changes the subject whenever I ask. Like, last time, she asked me about my job, and I told her I was bartender for a shitty dive bar five blocks from my apartment. And she acted fascinated with it,” Shikamaru turned his head to look at Asuma, “It was odd.”

Asuma shrugged, “Sounds like she’s interested in your life, but holding back on her own.”

“I figured she’s doing something like that. But I just don’t know why.”

“Maybe she’s a private person like that. You guys have only known each other for like, what, four or five days?”

“That’s true.”

Asuma looked down at the notebook that sat on his desk, “How’s your insomnia?”

“Still sucks.”

“Any nightmares?”

“Same ol’, same ol’.”

Asuma rubbed his beard again, “When do you see Kurenai?” Kurenai was a psychiatrist, while Asuma was just a therapist.

“Two weeks from today.”

“Talk to her about it. I don’t want you to go on sleep medication again if we can help it.” He glanced at the clock again. “Looks like it’s about that time. We’ll pick up our chess game again next week. Sorry we didn’t get to play today.”

“It’s fine,” Shikamaru said as he stood up, stretching his arms. “I’ll just kick your ass next week.”

Asuma walked him to the door, “I don’t know. I’ve been practicing with Mirai. I think I might get you.”

“Asuma, she’s like three.”

His therapist guffawed, “She’s good at moving those pieces, I swear.”

Shikamaru payed his co-pay then waved goodbye, “See you next week.”

“I’ll be here. Call me if you need anything.”

When he got outside, Shikamaru checked his phone. Temari had been pretty busy today, so he was surprised when he saw that he had a missed call from her. He dialed her number; she picked it up on the first ring. “Hey.”

“I saw that you called me, what’s up?”

“You doing anything tomorrow?”

“I got work in the morning, but I’ll be free around five.”

He heard that shark grin in her voice, “Wanna meet up and buy me dinner?”

“Buy you dinner?” He asked in mock horror, “Oh no. It’d almost be like a date.”

“That’s the idea, Shikamaru.”

He choked on air a little bit at that, “You’re so forward, you troublesome woman.”

“Is that a no?”

“It’s a yes. I was just caught off guard.”

She laughed, “I’ll meet you at your place tomorrow evening. See you then.”

“Yeah, later.” Shikamaru hung up the phone, and wondered what the hell had he gotten himself into.


	2. Don't Diss Waffle House

_It was raining. It always rained near Shikamaru’s birthday, and it looked like the week leading up to his sixteenth wouldn’t be any different._

_Shikamaru sat on the back porch enjoying a cigarette and a warm, cheap beer he’d kept hidden behind a ceiling tile in his closet. Neither of his parents were home; his dad was probably still down at the precinct and his mother had gone over to Ino’s house to help her mother, Hotaru, with some bullshit he didn’t care to hear about. He knew they’d gone for hours, so there was no need for him to be concerned over getting caught._

_It was nice and quiet. He could watch the storm clouds roll by without hassle._

_Lightning flashed, and then seconds later, a lazy roll of thunder rumbled. Shikamaru sighed contentedly; he and that thunderclap were one in the same. Slowly moving along in one direction, taking its sweet time to get wherever it needed, or wanted to be._

_He rested his head against the back of the chair he sat in, and closed his eyes. Without bothering to open his eyes, he took a deep puff from his cigarette, then a sip from his beer, enjoying the sound of the rain pouring out of the gutter. Man, he could really fall asleep out here._

_“I see someone is enjoying themselves.”_

_Shikamaru’s eyes flew open to see his father, Shikaku, looming over him with an amused expression on his face. Slowly, he put the can of beer down onto the table beside of him, and went to snub out the cigarette, “Hey Dad.”_

_Shikaku held out his hand expectantly; Shikamaru passed him the cigarette he held between his fingers morosely. His dad took it, and the can of beer before sitting down in the chair on the opposite side of the table. He took a sip out of the can, and made a disgusted face, “If you’re going to be doing any underage drinking, you kids should really spring for the good stuff. I’m tired of having to choke down his nasty shit when I inevitably find it.”_

_“Bug Light is cheap, old man.”_

_“Might as well drink each other’s piss instead of wasting your money.”_

_Shikamaru wrinkled his nose, “You’re so gross. And no one said you had to drink it.”_

_“Someone’s got to.”_

_“Maybe if you raised my allowance, I could get the better stuff.”_

_Shikaku barked out a laugh, then inhaled on his cigarette, “I knew you’d try to parlay that into a bid for more money. That’s a hard no, kid.”_

_“Didn’t hurt to try.” Shikamaru laced his fingers together and pushed them out, stretching them. “You’re home awfully early today.”_

_“Minato said I’m working too hard,” Shikaku flicked ash off of the end of the cigarette, “We’re waiting on some stuff to come back from the lab, so he insisted Inoichi and I go home.”_

_“Same case that’s been bothering you?”_

_“Yep,” he took another swig of beer and grimaced, “It’s been giving me nothing, but grief lately.” He didn’t say anything beyond that. It was rare for Shikaku to go on at length about any of his cases. Shikamaru agreed with Captain Namikaze, his dad did work too hard. Shikaku hadn’t made lieutenant on his good looks alone, but sometimes he took on too much._

_“Anyways,” Shikaku changed the subject, “How was school?”_

_“Same shit, different day. I’m ready for it to be summer.”_

_Shikaku chuckled, “The semester just started.”_

_“Yeah, and I’m ready for it to be over. Ready to graduate, if I’m gonna be real with you.”_

_His dad shook his head, “Don’t wish your teenage years away, son. You’ll be an old man soon enough.”_

_“Old like you?”_

_Shikaku fixed him with a look, “I’d be careful, Shikamaru. I could ground you for these illegal substances I found you with.”_

_“Uh. I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine?”_

_“I’m a member of the Konoha Police Force. Bribery does not work on me, son.”_

_“I’ll go to the mall with mom for you this weekend if you promise not to tell her about,” he gestured at the beer and cigarette, “that.”_

_Shikaku didn’t even hesitate, “Deal.”_

* * *

Shikamaru’s alarm started blaring; he picked up his phone, turned it off, then placed it back on his nightstand. He’d woken up to piss hours ago, but couldn’t fall back asleep. His insomnia had been getting bad again lately.

When he couldn’t sleep, his thoughts always turned to his dad. They plagued him, really. Made him feel empty inside, and when he felt himself bottom out from thinking about his dad for too long, he’d lift up the loose floorboard underneath the rug in his bed room, pull out his bottle of cheap whiskey or weed, and get wasted one way or another.

Then he’d stay high or drunk for the day, and then be plagued with such guilt the next morning, he wouldn’t talk to anyone, and just lay in bed, not eating or showering.

It happened a lot more than he’d ever admit to anyone, save for Asuma.

But they knew. His mother knew. Chouji and Ino knew (and by association, Sakura too). Naruto and the others probably had their suspicions, but said nothing.

He looked at the time. It was almost nine in the morning; he’d been awake since five. He had to be at the bar in two hours to open, and the itch to take a swig of whiskey burned inside of him.

With great effort, Shikamaru forced himself to sit up in bed, using the heel of his hand to wipe away the now dried tear streaks off of his cheeks. “Let’s get this shit over with,” he muttered to himself, heaving himself up so he could shower and force himself to eat something.

* * *

After getting dressed, Shikamaru couldn’t resist scratching the itch any longer, prying up the floorboard to hurriedly take a shot before rebrushing his teeth and leaving.

* * *

The early shift was always slow, but Shikamaru didn’t mind. Jiraya didn’t give a shit if he goofed off on his phone, read a book, or even worked on whatever short story he was writing at the time, so it made his work life tolerable.

Speaking of Jiraya, the man himself sat at the corner of the bar, writing his next novel in his semi-famous series, which shared the bar’s namesake. He was on his second whiskey sour and it was barely two in the afternoon.

“Hey, Shikamaru,” Jiraya looked up at him over his reading glasses.

“Yeah?”

“Have you talked to Naruto today? The little shit is ignoring my calls.”

Jiraya was a retired cop who was close with Naruto’s family, so close in fact that he was Naruto’s godfather.

Shikamaru took a rag and started wiping down the bar, “Not today. He’s probably on patrol.”

Jiraya grunted and returned to his writing, “Figures. I’ll have to hunt him down tonight.”

He didn’t really give a shit why Jiraya needed his friend, but it was best to be somewhat polite to your employer and landlord, “Need his opinion again?”

“Yes, but not on my next book. Minato’s birthday is soon, and I need to get him something.”

“Naruto’s not going to have a fucking clue what to get him.”

Jiraya sighed, “I know.” He adjusted his glasses, “What would you get him, Shikamaru?”

Shikamaru frowned while he rearranged the bottles on the bar back. Someone keeps moving them, and it made him itch all over when they weren’t in the proper order, “Probably some kind of cooking utensil. The only person I know who likes to cook as much as he does is Chouji.”

“That’s a fair idea. I’ll call Kushina and ask her what he doesn’t have.”

“Sounds fair.” Shikamaru’s phone buzzed. He pulled it out of his back pocket and saw that he had a text from Temari.  


**Temari:** what are you doing tonight?  


They’d been hooking up since they met two months ago. She stayed extremely busy with work, but she texted him often, and at least once a week, she drove to Konoha to bang his brains out, sit on his couch, smoke all of his cigarettes, and drink all of his coffee before leaving a day later.

 **  
Shikamaru:** i was gonna go home and probably not do a damn thing, why?

 **Temari:** wanna do me instead? ;)  


He rolled his eyes, but couldn’t stop himself from smiling.  


**Shikamaru:** you’re ridiculous

 **Temari:** that a no?

 **Shikamaru:** it’s a yes, i’m just pointing out that you’re ridiculous flirt

 **Temari:** you like it. i’ll be at your place around 6

 **Shikamaru:** whatever. drive safe, and all that noise  


“Who you texting? Your girrrllfriend?”

Shikamaru’s smile slid off his face and he glowered at Jiraya, “You ask me that every time I smile while texting someone. No, I’m not talking to my girlfriend. I don’t have a girlfriend.”

To be honest, Shikamaru didn’t really knew what he categorized Temari as. Sure, they were fuckbuddies, but he had never kissed his fuckbuddies hello, goodbye, or just because. He actually _liked_ her as a person, and knew that at the least, they were also friends. She stimulated him intellectually too; more often than not, they would end up lying in his bed after sex and just talking about whatever.

Their extremely intense sexual chemistry could go without saying.

He’d never wanted a woman so bad, or so often in all of his life. Even compared to when he was a teenager, and found out how awesome sex was after losing his virginity to his high school girlfriend. Temari did something to him, and Shikamaru didn’t know or care what it is. All he knew was that she was the puppet master who cursed his dick, and he couldn’t get enough of her.

Jiraya sniffed, “One of these days, Shikamaru, you’ll find someone who puts up with your surly attitude.”

He didn’t say anything to that, instead turning his attention to a customer who had sat down at the bar. “What’ll it be?”

* * *

“Harder!” Temari gasped, arching her back as Shikamaru fucked her from behind.

He did as he was commanded, repeatedly slamming into her with such force, she would have fell forward if he hadn’t had an iron-like grip on her hips. Shikamaru bit his lower lip hard to keep from being too loud, but failed to keep himself from snarling out “Fuck” while he watched her white-knuckle his sheets.

She was whining his name, and he knew that she was close to finishing. At this point it was race to see who would cum first, and Shikamaru refused to be the loser. He snaked his hand from her hip to in between her thighs, finding her clit, rubbing it as roughly as she liked it.

When Temari sobbed out his name, and he felt her tense and shake around him, Shikamaru pounded her in a frenzy before allowing himself to fill up the condom, gritting his teeth, hissing out her name. After he finished pouring into her, pulled out and plopped down on the bed beside her. “Holy shit,” he panted, too worn out to even take off the condom.

She gave him a chesire grin, before peeling the condom off, getting down near his dick, and licking the head clean. He twitched and moaned, a little embarrassed by how high-pitched it sounded. “You’re gonna e-end up killing me if you d-don’t stop.”

Temari looked up at him with her gorgeous teal eyes, and winked. Satisfied with her cleanup, she kissed the tip of his dick, then took the condom to the bathroom. He closed his eyes briefly, close to passing out until he felt her slide under the covers beside him. Sleepily, he wrapped his arms around her; she reached up and started playing with his hair, burying her face into his neck.

“You have such nice hair,” she murmured against his skin, pressing kisses into it. “It’s so long, and thick, and soft. Mine’s like straw.”

He ran his fingers through her’s, frowning, “It’s not like straw. It’s nice.”

“That’s because I used conditioning treatments on it.”

“Well it works I guess, because I think it feels nice.”

Temari chuckled, “Thank you.”

He kissed her forehead, “You’re welcome.”

She hummed happily; the vibration against his throat made his hair stand on end.

He was so comfortable. There was something about having a warm body curled up next to you that made you wanna sleep. “Would you kill me if I passed out? I’m so tired.”

“No. I’m about to fall asleep myself. Will you pull your comforter up? I’m cold.”

“Yeah,” Shikamaru sat up long enough to pull the comforter over top of them, then resumed his position on the bed.

Temari reached over turned off his lamp, then entwined herself with him, tilting her head up to kiss him. “Goodnight.”

He returned her kiss, then gave her a soft kiss on the forehead, “Goodnight.”

She fell asleep first; he watched her chest rise and fall with gentle, rhythmic breaths in the moonlight. Slowly, his eyes grew heavier, and before he let sleep take him, he prayed that he had worn himself out enough for it to be restful.

* * *

At five o’clock in the morning, Shikamaru woke with covered in sweat, and gasping for air. He had yet another nightmare about his dad; the one where he was forced to watch his father get his brains splattered on the sidewalk.

Shikamaru hadn’t been present for it, but ever since he was subjected to the crime scene photos at the trial, that act of violence had become a reoccurring nightmare. It had been over six years, but it hadn’t stopped haunting his sleep.

Careful not to wake Temari, he walked stiffly into the bathroom and threw up. He retched a few more times, then threw up once again. Shikamaru slid to the ground, leaning against the cabinet to support himself. The worst thing about puking was getting covered in cold sweat and shaking.

He needed to calm down; he stared at the tiles on the ground, and started counting them. It was a trick that Asuma had taught him to help him come back to Earth when a panic attack hit him. Shikamaru got to thirteen when Temari knocked softly on the door.

“Shikamaru? Are you okay?” She asked groggily.

“Yeah, I’m good.”

“Liar, I heard you puke twice.”

He grimaced, “And now I’m fine.” Shikamaru got up and quickly brushed his teeth before opening the door to her standing there.

Her luminous eyes studied his face, “You’re paler than usual.”

Shikamaru stepped in front of the mirror to study his face; she was right. “Hey? Eat a dick.”

“Maybe later. The only thing I’m hungry for right now is sleep or food.”

He looked back over at her; Temari had one of his blankets wrapped around her shoulders and was leaned against the door frame. She was so goddamn beautiful. He wanted nothing more than to curl back in bed with her, but he knew that he wouldn’t be able to fall back asleep. He needed coffee and she was hungry...

“I haven’t been to the store this week, so I don’t really have any snacks. Do you wanna go get some Waffle House?”

“What’s a waffle house?”

He stared at her, his dark thoughts abandoned, “You don’t…know…what Waffle House is?”

She gave him a weird look, “Never heard of it.”

That settled it. Shikamaru took Temari by the shoulders and marched her back to his room, “Get your clothes on, we’re gonna go to Waffle House.”

Temari did as she was told, grumbling under her breath about how this Waffle House better have some fuckin’ waffles, or she was going to be pissed. Shikamaru threw on his shirt and sweats, pulling his hair up into a ponytail. God, he had to take a leak; he went and did his business. When he was done, Shikamaru studied himself in the mirror again. He felt itchy all over; he was almost to dig at his arms, but he didn’t want to fuck up the tattoos that snaked up and down his arms. Gingerly, he poked at the dark circles that shadowed his eyes. He looked like hell. Whatever.

Temari was waiting for him in his living room; she was studying the framed pictures that sat on his end table. He walked over to see the one she was staring at; it was a photo of him and his dad on the pier at the beach; his dad was proudly holding up a fish while Shikamaru just smiled amusedly. It was the last picture they took together before he died. “This your dad?”

“Yeah.”

“You never struck me as the type who fished.”

“I don’t, but my dad liked to whenever we went to the beach, so I humored him. He was really shitty at it. I think that was the only time he ever caught anything.” Shikamaru kind of laughed, “He was so proud that he made some poor old lady take a picture of us.”

He prepared himself for the coming question, ‘What do you mean was?’. Anytime he mentioned his father in the past tense, he’d always have to explain that his dad was, in fact, dead, and he resented the looks of pity and the ‘Oh, I’m so sorry’ that would always follow.

Temari merely nodded, “You look just like him.” And left it at that. That…threw him. He blinked at her in surprise, not sure if he was relieved or just…he didn’t know what it was, but he felt some kind of way. She met his eyes, “We’re burning midnight oil, and I’m starving, so lead the way.”

* * *

“This? Is the Waffle House?”

“Yep.” Shikamaru sipped his coffee, “I can see that you’re not impressed.”

“After you had hyped it up so much, this just wasn’t what I was expecting.”

Waffle House was only a fifteen minute walk from his apartment, so he insisted that they hoof it there. Shikamaru tried to explain the appeal of Waffle House, and why it was _blasphemous_ that she had no idea what it was. As she set across from him, he swept an arm at the mostly empty diner, “Waffle House is the world’s truest neutral zone. No one gives a shit who you are or how much you’ve had to drink. There is no judgement to be found here.”

Temari took a drink of her own coffee, “Well, the coffee is pretty decent, so I’ll give you that.”

“Food’s good, I promise. Get the waffles, they’re the best.”

“It’s called the fucking Waffle House, the waffles better be good.” The waitress appeared and took her order of chocolate chip waffles; Shikamaru was fine with just coffee. “Not eating?” Temari asked.

“Nah, I just wanted coffee.” He put his legs up in the booth and leaned his back against the window, “That’s normally what I get when I’m here late.”

“Come here a lot?”

He nodded, “When my insomnia is bad, I do. Which is often.”

Temari nodded sympathetically, “My youngest brother suffers from severe insomnia. He doesn’t get more than two hours of sleep a night. I don’t know how he functions, but he’s lived with it since we were kids.”

Shikmaru whistled, “He’s got my pity. I can normally function on four, but I couldn’t imagine living on two.”

“He says he doesn’t mine it, because he gets lot of work done that way.”

“He a workaholic?”

Temari took a gulp of coffee, “Let’s just say he’s got a very demanding job.”

Shikamaru narrowed his eyes at her, “Demanding like your job is?”

She smiled enigmatically, “We work together.”

“You ever gonna tell me what you do for a living?”

“Maybe one day.”

He snorted, “You’re awfully evasive about it. You sure I’m not just a side piece?”

She rolled her eyes, “Please. I’m not like that, and I’m far too busy to try and juggle two men at the same time.” Temari placed her chin in her hands and looked up at him, “It’s kind of important I keep it hush-hush, but I promise I’ll tell you some time soon. Deal?”

He held his hands up in defeat, “Fine.” Her waffles were ready; they fell silent as she dug in. Shikamaru eyed how she ate with gusto, “I can see you’re enjoying your Waffle House waffles.”

“Why did no one tell me that this place existed?” She moaned, “These are fantastic.”

Shikamaru smirked at her, “I told you.”

“Shut up.”

He chuckled and sipped his coffee.

“Do you just stare at the wall when you’re here late at night?” She asked.

“Sometimes. Sometimes I bring my laptop, and write.”

“You write?” Temari looked interested, “I didn’t know that.”

“I don’t really talk much about it because I hate everything I put to paper.”

“You write anything specifically?”

Shikamaru leaned his head back against the glass, “Horror mostly, like every other angsty twenty-four year old.”

“Can I read something of your’s sometime?”

He looked at her. She genuinely seemed interested, “Yeah, okay. If it’s awful, you gotta tell me though, so I know to give up the ghost.”

“I’ll be sure to give you my most biting criticism, if that’s what you want.”

“Thanks, I’ll look forward to getting verbally flogged.”

She snorted, and kept at her waffles. Shikamaru studied her; her hair was in two messy pigtails, and she was wearing his shirt, and a pair of his sweatpants she tied as tightly as she could get them. She was so goddamn cute. But, their conversation about that picture was nagging at him. “Can I ask you something?”

“Shoot.”

“Why didn’t ask me why I referred to my dad in the past tense?”

Temari finished off her waffles, “I assumed he was either dead, or you two had a fraught relationship that caused you to refer to him like that. Either way, not a lot of people like talking about anything like that.” She pushed her plate to the edge of the table, set her elbows on the table, and bridged her fingers together, “I’m sorry if it seemed like I didn’t care. I just figured you wouldn’t want to hear ‘I’m sorry to hear that’.”

“That’s…well-reasoned. I didn’t think that, by the way. Everyone asks, so I was thrown when you didn’t.”

“Talking about your dead parent’s aren’t a lot of fun. I’d know.” He looked at her quizzically; she continued, “Both of mine are dead.”

He frowned, and went to speak, but she held up a hand, “You don’t have to say you’re sorry. It’s okay, really. I’ve made peace with my mom’s death, and my dad was an asshole.”

Shikamaru nodded, and set his cup of coffee down on the table. Their waitress bustled over, refilled their coffee, and took Temari’s empty plate away.

They were quiet for a while before Temari filled the silence, “Can I ask you a deep question that you don’t have to answer?”

“What’s that?”

“Do you think there’s anything after death?”

Shikamaru thought for a moment, “Probably not. What about you?”

“I like to think there is. It gives me peace to think that my mother is somewhere happy, and no longer in any pain.”

“What happened to her?”

Temari nodded, “She was diagnosed with cervical cancer right after my youngest brother was born. She fought hard for two years before it eventually killed her.” She drank her fresh cup of coffee, “My dad took a gamble and lost his life,” she added as an afterthought.

“My dad,” Shikamaru started, staring at the analog clock that sat high on the wall above the kitchen area, “Was a detective that got killed in the line of duty. It’d be nice to think he’s somewhere enjoying early retirement, but I can’t bring myself to.”

His eyes burned a little; Shikamaru frowned down at his coffee at the sensation. Temari reached across the table and put a hand on his arm, not saying anything, and not needing too. The touch was a little comforting.

He cleared his throat, “Let’s pay and get out of here. It’s almost sunrise.”

* * *

As they walked home in silence, Temari slid her hand into his. He looked at her in surprise, but her eyes were fixed on the horizon. She squeezed his hand.

He squeezed her’s back.

* * *

“This is nice. Do you sneak up here often?” After getting back to his apartment, Shikamaru had the brilliant idea to drag Temari up to the roof of his apartment complex to watch the sunrise. They were wrapped in the blanket she insisted on taking with her, watching the sun begin to peak over the horizon.

“I don’t sneak up here, I have a key.” She gave him a questioning look. “I do some maintenance work for my landlord.”

“You? Know how to fix shit?”

He glowered at her, “My dad did a bunch of DIY shit when I was a kid, and I was forced to learn because it ‘built character’, or some shit like that. It was a pain in the ass, but it helped me get my rent cut in half.”

“I bet ya figured it’d never come in handy.”

“I didn’t. Goes to show my old man may have known what he was talking about after all.” Talking about his dad was making him feel a little weird, but not as bad as it normally did. He wasn’t overtaken by a sense of panic like usual, but he didn’t know if he was subconsciously tamping it down because he didn’t want to freak her out, or he was actually fine.

Shikamaru was lost in his thoughts, when Temari straddled his lap, blocking his view of the sunrise. She was leering down at him, biting her lower lip.

He raised an eyebrow, “Can I help you?”

She wrapped her arms around his neck, “You know what would be hot? If we fooled around up here.”

“That’s bold, and illegal?”

“Who’s to say we’d get caught?” Temari tilted her head towards his, and kissed him, sliding her tongue into his mouth.

This wasn’t that great of an idea, but goddamn, anytime their tongues met, his brain melted, and all the blood in his body rushed towards his dick. With some difficulty, he helped her tug her pants off, ensuring that the blanket was secured around her waist, just in case someone would somehow see her bare ass.

She palmed his growing erection through his pants, before pulling his cock out to sloppily jerk it while she continued to kiss him. He panted into her mouth, “I don’t have any condoms.”

Temari reached into her shirt and pulled one of out of her bra, smirking in triumph. He just shook his head at her before grabbing the foil packet out of her hand, “You planned this.”

“Maaaaybe.” She began to suckle and bite on his earlobe, eliciting a gasp from him, “But you sound like you’re not complaining.”

“Kinda.” His dick was fully hard now as she trailed sucking kisses down his neck, “Fuck.”

She giggled before setting back, taking the condom back; she ripped it open, then unrolled it onto his cock. He grit his teeth at the sensation of her hand. “Beg me to fuck you.”

“Please fuck me,” he replied immediately, feeling embarrassed and turned on by the fact that he uttered that without a moment’s hesitation.

“Good boy,” she whispered, before sheathing him inside herself, clenching around his dick and making him gasp out loud.


	3. A Lot of IOUs

Shikamaru woke to the sound of someone doing dishes.

The soft clatter of plates rang through his head like a gunshot. He was hungover, far too hungover to exist. The events of last night were a blur to him, but all he remembered was drinking alone in his apartment, what an empty bottle of whiskey sounded like when it’s smashed into the wall, and clumsily slicing the palm of his left hand open when trying to pick up the glass pieces.

What had spurned him to binge drink last night, Shikamaru had already forgotten. But did he really need a reason at this point? He had spent too much time reminiscing again, that much he remembered, and he had ran out of weed, so of course he had to turn to alcohol. Chouji, as much as Shikamaru loved him, was stingy when it came to hooking him up, and like a dumbass, Shikamaru had already smoked up his monthly allowance.

God, the phrase ‘monthly allowance’ made him feel like a teenager again. He got it, Chouji was his Weed Guy because it was easier to control how much Shikamaru smoked rather than getting him to stop all together. And Shikamaru had pinky promised that he wouldn’t go through anyone else, so he got what he got, and had to suck it up.

Didn’t mean he had to like it.

His hand throbbed in time with his head. Shikamaru looked at it; blood had soaked through the bandages and was threatening to run down his arm. In his hazy, terribly sober mind, he congratulated himself on bandaging up his hand decently while fucked up, but judging by the way the cut felt, he knew it was probably pretty bad. He used his non-fucked up hand to peek underneath the wrapping. Yeah, that was deep. Fuck.

Shikamaru heard clattering again, drawing his attention back to the fact that someone was in his apartment, and doing his dishes. He wasn’t bothered that someone was in his apartment; his mom, Chouji’s parents, Ino’s mom Hotaru, Ino, and Chouji all had copies of his key, and were known to let themselves in whenever they wanted, much to his distaste. Truthfully, he was more concerned with the _who_ than the _why_.

He got up and pulled on his discarded basketball shorts. Best case scenario, it was Chouji, who couldn’t stand a dirty kitchen. Mediocre case scenario was that it was Hotaru, Chouza, or Mito, Chouji’s mom. Worst case, it was Ino. Absolute nightmare DEFCON 5 would be his mother, and the thought of that made him want to throw up.

It took a great deal of effort to convince himself to leave the safety of his bedroom, but Shikamaru was a glutton for punishment. He opened the door, and was hit with a strong ray of sunshine. His stomach roiled, and he barely made it to the toilet before throwing his guts up. Shikamaru laid on the ground for a moment, head pounding. _Maybe this hangover will kill me,_ he thought to himself, _Or maybe I’ll bleed to death_.

God, he REALLY didn’t want to see who was in his kitchen, but you have to face the music at some point. Slowly, Shikamaru got to his feet and trudged out of the bathroom. His living room was scarily neat, the glass from the broken whiskey bottle swept up, coffee table back in its proper place, the picture frames he had turned face down were propped back up. Alarm bells started ringing in his head. He knew he had left it an unmitigated disaster last night, and he knew that both Chouji and Chouza wouldn’t have been bothered with doing anything other than sweeping up the glass, and Ino, Hotaru, and Mito would have insisted that he pick everything up himself.

Which meant that it was his mother that was in the kitchen.

 _Fuck_.

Dreading the conversation that was about to happen, Shikamaru walked through the threshold of the kitchen and was almost knocked over with relief when he saw pink hair and blue scrubs. It was Sakura, who had just gotten off of her night shift at Konoha Memorial as one of the ER nurses.

“Oh thank God,” Shikamaru’s good hand clutched his chest, feeling like his heart was about to give out, “I thought you were my mom.”

Sakura was firmly between Mediocre and Worst Case Scenarios, depending on how she was feeling, but Shikamaru would have taken her over Ino or his mother any day. She turned off the sink faucet, then wiped her hands on a dish towel before facing Shikamaru. He could tell from how her mouth set in a thin, hard line, and the way her eyes narrowed in on his now dripping bandaged hand that she was not happy.  “Maybe it should have been,” she sighed, eyes tired, “Sit, and let me take a look at your hand.”

* * *

_He was pretty sure he was dying._

_The lake not far from their neighborhood had an awesome rope swing attached a massive tree, and of course, no kid in their right mind could resist swinging off of It into the water. Shikamaru, just like every other twelve year old boy with asshole friends who couldn’t stop trying to one-up each other, loved to launch himself into the water using it._

_He’d swung off of it a dozen times that day, just like the rest of his friends, not noticing that the rope had started to fray near the knot that connected it to the tree branch. So, when the rope snapped prematurely and he found himself plummeting towards a downed tree trunk at a remarkable speed, Shikamaru was surprised to say the least._

_He landed with a sickening thud and blacked out for a moment. The next thing he remembered was staring up into the canopy of a tree, legs draped over the log that had broken his fall, feeling like something was very, very wrong with his right leg. And the screaming. There was lots of screaming._

_“SHIKAMARU—”_

_“HOLY SHIT—”_

_“OHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGOD—”_

_It dawned on him that he was screaming too. His friends descended on him like a pack of vultures on a corpse; Sakura was barking orders, having TenTen grab all of the nearby towels, commanding Naruto, Lee, and Kiba to take a rather hysterical Chouji to go get someone, anyone, while she and Neji took the towels that TenTen had procured and started apply pressure to…whatever was going on with Shikamaru’s leg._

_They wouldn’t let him look. HInata and Ino flanked him, draped a towel over his torso (Sakura had snarled something about making sure he doesn’t go into shock), and held him down, not letting him assess the damage himself. He knew his leg was broken, and judging from how green everyone around him was, he knew that it was a bad break. Distantly, Shikamaru felt pain, but the adrenaline kept it dull. And he was too busy trying to see what the fuck was going on with his leg to notice._

_“Let me go, I need to see how bad my mom is gonna kill me.”_

_“Shikamaru,” Neji’s voice was tight, “Your mom isn’t going to be what kills you if you don’t stop moving.”_

_“Someone distract him,” Sakura’s tone was clipped._

_Shino’s face suddenly took up his line of vision, “Shikamaru. What’s your favorite bug?”_

_An strange question to be asking at a time like this, but he was starting to feel a lightheaded, so Shikamaru couldn’t help but humor him, “I relate to the cicada more than I care to admit to.”_

_“I’m not shocked. As you’re well aware, the cicada sleeps for seventeen years—”_

_Shino started spouting off facts about the mighty cicada, which oddly enough, Shikamaru found to be fascinating. As Shino droned on, Shikamaru watched the sunlight glint off of his glasses, mesmerized. There was something calming about Shino’s monotone voice; Shikamaru stopped trying to fight Hinata and Ino off._

_Fifteen minutes or an hour passed, he wasn’t sure, before Shikamaru heard running and yelling. Suddenly, his father was at his side, face schooled into Cop Mode. “Shikamaru,” Shikaku began neutrally, as if his only child wasn’t currently laying on the ground injured, “What happened?”_

_“The rope swing broke and when I fell, I think I broke my leg. I dunno.”_

_“What do you mean you don’t know?”_

_Shikamaru could see Inoichi approach him on Ino’s side, face also in Cop Mode. From some distance away, he could hear Chouji wailing. His injury must be worse than he previously thought. “I think it hurts. I dunno. It feels faraway.” That didn’t really make sense, but it sounded correct. Shikamaru felt cold, “When did it get so cold, I thought we were in the middle of a heat wave.”_

_Shikaku’s face stayed the same, but out of the corner of his eye, Shikamaru could see Inoichi blanch, “You’re going into shock.” He gripped one of Shikamaru’s hands, and his mouth thinned when he found it to be clammy. “Someone get me another towel.”_

_There was a faint buzzing in his ears, and the ground was starting to feel soft like a mattress. The extra towels that now covered him were making him feel downright cozy. Through the boughs of the tree, Shikamaru could see clouds drifting by. Would it be a bad time to take a nap? His eyes started getting heavy._

_“Stay with me, kid,” Shikaku lightly slapped Shikamaru’s face._

_He scowled up at his dad, “I haven’t left.”_

_The sound of sirens were rapidly approaching; the EMTs were finally here._

_Things were starting to get a little too hectic for Shikamaru’s fuzzy brain. The two EMTs shooed Neji and Sakura away, taking their place at his side. Shikamaru watched as they walked towards the lake; they were covered in his blood._

_Hm. That’s not good._

_“Alright, we’re gonna move you,” one of the EMTs looked from Shikaku to Inoichi, “Lieutenant Nara, Sargent Yamanaka, would you both please assist us in getting him on the stretcher?”_

_“Of course,” Shikaku was still holding his hand. Ino and Hinata moved out of the way to make room; both looking traumatized._

_Inoichi took Ino’s spot, “You girls go join Chouza, and make sure Chouji is okay.”_

_“But—” Ino started._

_“Don’t worry about Shikamaru, we’ll get him taken care of.”_

_Hinata nodded, unable to speak, and walked towards their group of concerned friends. Ino looked down at Shikamaru apprehensively, not wanting to leave his side, but ultimately turned around and joined Hinata._

_“Shikamaru,” his father drew his attention back towards him, “When we lift you up, do not look at your leg, do you understand me?”_

_He nodded, but when they lift him, Shikamaru felt an unfathomable amount of pain shoot through his right leg. Despite what his father said, he looked, unable to help himself._

_A broken tree limb, slick with his blood, jutted out of his thigh. His breathing became rapid, and the buzzing in his ears reached a fever pitch._

_Inoichi noticed he saw the injury. “Shikamaru,” he warned, “Don’t panic. Try to stay calm.”_

_“Uncle Ichi,” Shikamaru slurred, using his old nickname for Inoichi._

_“Yeah?”_

_“How am I supposed to do that when I have a fuckin’ tree in my leg.”_

_And with that, Shikamaru’s vision went black._

* * *

Shikamaru stared down at the old scar on his leg as Sakura silently stitched his hand wound closed. Later, after Shikamaru had woken up from his surgery, he learned that the branch had come within centimeters of his femoral artery; if it had been severed he would have been dead in minutes. The break had been as bad as he had feared, and now he had a plate and several screws on his femur that made his leg ache on cold or rainy days to remind him. Better than being dead, he guessed.

“I owe you one, Sakura.”

“You owe me a lot more than one.”

Shikamaru winced; that was very true. She had more or less been his fixer since they had left high school. Gotten his ass out of some slings that had been of his own making when he let his feelings overrun his logical brain. “Are you going to tell Ino?”

Sakura snipped the thread and started bandaging his hand, “Tell Ino what?”

“That I got drunk and accidentally hurt myself.”

“Was it an accident this time?” Sakura kept her tone even.

He shifted uncomfortably, “Yeah.” She was asking for good reason, but it still made him feel weird.

She ruminated on it for a moment. “You know I don’t like keeping things from her,” Sakura said after a few minutes.

“I’ll tell her. Don’t worry about it.”

Sakura said nothing to that; instead she held out her pinkie finger and looked at him expectantly. The pinkie promise was sacred in their friend group, and even if he found them to be ridiculous, Shikamaru knew better than to take them anything less than serious. Using his good hand, he hooked his pinkie around Sakura’s. At the same time, they both blew air on their linked hands.

Satisfied, Sakura relinquished his hand and took to scolding him, “You’re lucky that your cut wasn’t any deeper than it was. You could have seriously messed up the tendons in your hand! You need to be more careful! And stop binge drinking, or you’ll end up with alcohol poisoning again.”

He rolled his eyes. “Okay, Mom.”

Sakura grabbed one of his ears and pulled hard, “Listen here, you little shit! I just saved you from having to go to the ER, so the least you can do is not be such a smartass!” She let go, shoving his head as she went.

Shikamaru glowered at her, rubbing his ear, head swimming from the sudden movement, “You’re as rough as sandpaper. What happened to nurses having a good bedside manner?” She didn’t dignify that with a response; instead she stood up, and gathered her things. He followed her to the door, “…Thanks Sakura. I really do owe you.”

She opened the door, then turned back towards him, eyes tired, but she was giving him a wane smile, “I’ll be collecting on your tab one of these days, Shikamaru.”

He didn’t doubt that for a second.

* * *

First he woke up to dishes being done, and now Shikamaru found himself jolted out of a nap by pounding on his front door. _Goddamnit, who is it now?_

Blearily, Shikamaru cracked open the front door to find Kiba and Naruto standing there in full uniform.

“Yo,” Kiba greeted him, grocery bags in hand. His K-9 dog, Akamaru, sat on the ground beside him, not paying Shikamaru a bit of attention.

“Hey!” Naruto grinned at Shikamaru, arms behind his back. When he got a good look at Shikamaru’s face, his smile slipped, “You look like hell, dude.”

“Thanks Naruto. I’m glad that I don’t rely on you to keep my self-esteem intact.” Out of all of his friends, Shikamaru always knew that Naruto and Kiba would follow in their parent’s footsteps and become cops. A long time ago, Shikamaru figured he would have been right there with them, but shit happens, and now he was just a surly, perpetually hungover bartender instead. He leaned heavily against the door frame, “What do you guys need?”

“Why do we need anything, maybe we’re just checking in on a friend,” Kiba replied indignantly, “I haven’t heard from you in weeks.”

“We all know you two are too busy to make house calls for shits and giggles. What’s up?”

Naruto and Kiba exchanged glances. “Well—” Naruto started, but was interrupted by a tiny, but mighty _meow_. “Heheh, I guess she’s gonna make herself known.” From behind his back, Naruto produced a tiny black kitten, “We found her on the side of the road this morning. Do you think you could look after her?”

Shikamaru gazed down at the kitten. She couldn’t be older than three weeks; her green eyes sharply contrasting with her black fur. “And what possessed you to bring her to me?”

Kiba rubbed the back of his head with his free hand, “The shelters aren’t taking any kittens right now, all of the rescues are full, and I can’t keep her because of the dogs.”

“And I can’t because Hinata is allergic to cats,” Naruto said sheepishly.

“And…none of our other friends can take her?”

Naruto started scratching the kitten’s head, “Ino, Sakura, and Chouji said they were all too busy for an animal, TenTen and Shino didn’t answer their phones when I called, Neji is also allergic, and Sai flat out said no, so...”

Shikamaru crossed his arms, feeling entirely too hungover for this shit, “What makes you think I won’t say no?”

“Because you’re a real pal?” Kiba offered.

He looked at both of his friend’s earnest face, then back down at the kitten. She was cute; he reached out and scratched her little head, she stretched to meet his pets, purring. In spite of himself, Shikamaru smiled.

To be honest, he didn’t know the first thing about taking care of an animal. He could barely take care of himself. Also, growing up, no one in his family had animals, so he wasn’t particularly well-versed…but, he would feel guilty if this cat had to be left out in the cold. It couldn’t be _that_ hard could it?

Shikamaru sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose, “Fine, but I’d need to figure out what stuff I’d need to buy—”

“Already taken care of, my dude.” Kiba held up the grocery bags in his hand, “We got everything you need for a growing baby cat.”

Shikamaru pursed his lips, “Sounds like you’d already planned on shoving this cat off on me.”

Naruto didn’t even look guilty, “Well, we just wanted to help anyone who was willing to take her, that’s all!”

“Mhm,” Shikamaru stepped out of the doorway so they could come in, “Let me see what you got.”

* * *

It was later that evening, and Shikamaru was sitting at his kitchen table, willing himself to write. Shadow, as Naruto unoriginally dubbed her, was curled up on a cat bed Kiba had gotten, fast asleep. She had been rambunctious all afternoon after Naruto and Kiba had left (they hadn’t asked him about his hand, which he was silently thankful for), and Shikamaru was glad that she had tired herself out.

He stared at his computer screen, resting his chin against his hand. It’d been a few weeks since he had turned on his laptop to do anything other than surf the internet and watch stupid videos. The spark to write just wasn’t there, but he knew once he forced himself to start, he could flog himself inwardly to keep the momentum going, even if his hand was dully aching from the exertion.

But, goddamn, was it hard to start.

His phone laid on the table beside him. Ino had been blowing him up all day after he had texted her about his hand, demanding pictures of his new charge and injury. He’d gotten other messages from his mom, Chouza, Sai asking him to cover for him next Thursday evening at Icha Icha’s, and Chouji asking him if he wanted to hangout the next day since he had a rare day off.

Nothing from Temari though.

She was on a business trip to Kumo with her brothers, and had been gone for almost two weeks. He knew she was extremely busy, and had only texted him either early in the morning, or very late at night; it was the only time she had a break.

He felt for her, really. Her job always kept her tied up, and from what he could infer, the time she carved out to come see him took a huge effort on her part. That made him feel guilty, but he knew that nothing would deter Temari from what she wanted to do. He’d met a lot of stubborn women in his life, but she might be the most obstinate one yet.

God, he missed her.

For the most part, he wasn’t missing the sex, he’d been fine with using his hand and imagination to get off. He missed _her_. Missed their face to face conversations, watching her eyes light up with mirth before she’d make some smartass comment, the way she’d play with his hair while they laid in bed, the late night journeys to Waffle House that had become Their Thing.

Shikamaru rubbed his face. He had caught feelings, hadn’t he? A lot of her personal life was still a mystery to him, but her wildfire personality, and her brazen disregard for how people thought of her was something he had found himself deeply attracted to. He leaned his head back and glowered at his ceiling. You weren’t supposed to catch feelings for a fuckbuddy, it only led to problems, but he just couldn’t help himself.

He had been so touch-starved, and fucking only filled the void so much. Some of the people he had ever brought home either didn’t want to cuddle or kiss or anything of that nature, and sometimes he was the one that turned down the affection. Temari, on the other hand, was a whole different story.

His phone stared up at him; the urge to call her overwhelmed him. Before he could stop himself, he dialed her number.

She picked up on the third ring, “You caught me a good time. I just stepped outside for a cigarette.”

He put her on speaker phone he could type with ease, “Lucky me. What are you doing?”

“At dinner with the people I’ve been in meetings with all damn week. I had to step away and get a cigarette because if I have to talk about work anymore, I’ll start screaming and my head will jettison off of my body.”

Shikamaru snorted, “Sounds painful. What are the meetings about, or can you not tell me?”

She was quiet for a moment; he could hear her lighter flick, “It’s about trade agreements. Not very interesting stuff.”

His eyebrows knitted together, “Trade agreements?”

“Yeah, I uh, work for the government.”

“Ah, that explains why you’re so dodgy about your job.”

She exhaled, “For the most part. It’s not captivating stuff. Anyways,” she changed the subject, “What are you doing this evening?”

“Writing, or at least I’m attempting to.”

“You gonna let me read it?”

He glanced at his laptop screen, “It’s not finished, I still have a ways to go.”

“I don’t care, really. I’m just interested in what you’re doing.”

A flush creeped across his face, “Well, when you put it like that, I guess I’ll finish up this chapter and let you read next time I see you.”

“Sounds good. You been missing me?” He could hear the smirk in her voice.

“Something like that.”

“Missing me, or _missing_ me?”

He rolled his eyes, “Both, I guess.”

She honked out a laugh, “Glad to hear your honesty.” After a beat, she added, “I guess I can admit I’m missing you too. Both ways.”

His face went even redder, “I guess I’ll have to take you out on another date soon.”

“Another date, huh?”

He raised an eyebrow, “Is that a no?”

“It’s a yes, definitely.” Her voice was husky. She exhaled again, “Well, my cigarette break is over. I need to get back in there.”

Shikamaru frowned, “Alright.” He fidgeted in his seat for a moment, “When will you be back in town?”

“With luck, we’ll be leaving tomorrow. Unless something comes up.”

He considerably brightened at that, “Good to hear. I guess I’ll see you soon then. Try not to be bored to death by your dinner conversation.”

She laughed, “No promises. Bye, Shika.”

“Later.”

When he hung up the phone, Shadow trotted over to him, meowing. Shikamaru bent down to pet her head, “I guess I better get this chapter done. Otherwise, I think Temari will flog me.” Shadow meowed again, which he took as her agreeing.

* * *

If Shikamaru could count on anything, it was how relaxing being around Chouji was. With his friend being the head chef at an exclusive restaurant, they never got to hang out much anymore, but when they did, it always did Shikamaru good.

He laid on Chouji’s couch, while Chouji reclined in his favorite armchair. Much like Chouza, once Chouji sat down in it, it took an act of God, or being hungry to get him out of it. They had it turned on to the news, but weren’t really watching it. Looking at his best friend, you wouldn’t guess that he liked to keep up with the news, but Shikamaru guessed he did because he grew up with it on in the background.

Chouji had been upset by Shikamaru’s injury, and the fact that he had gotten shitfaced alone again, but didn’t guilt him over it, like his mother or Ino sometimes did. He was grateful for Chouji’s understanding nature, which made him the easiest one out of his friend group to talk to.

“So, Naruto and Kiba got you to take on that cat, huh?”

“Yeah,” Shikamaru groused, “She’s alright, I guess. Keeps sleeping in my hair at night, which can be a huge pain in my ass if I need to get up to piss.” Actually, having another living creature in his apartment had been good for him. The last time he had found himself laying in bed, too depressed to move, Shadow had laid on his chest meowing until he found the energy to pet her. It helped. “She’s good to have around if I’m like, sad, or whatever.”

Chouji nodded sagely, “I’m glad to hear that, dude.”

Shikamaru yawned, half-tempted to take a nap, “How’s things with that chef chick you’re chasing?”

His friend sighed deeply, “Karui? Still haven’t asked her out. I freeze up, and instead of asking her to dinner, I bring up work. I’m a coward.”

“You’re not a coward,” Shikamaru replied bracingly, “Asking chicks out is hard.”

“Yeah right,” Chouji snorted, “You haven’t had any trouble with that girl you’ve been sleeping with.”

“Yeah well, I have some complicated feelings there.”

“You caught some, didn’t you.”

“Yep,” Shikamaru confirmed.

Chouji clicked his tongue sympathetically, “What are you gonna do about it?”

“I dunno,” Shikamaru groaned, “I’ll figure it out when she gets back from her business trip.”

“I know you will.” Chouji pried himself from his armchair, “I’m gonna get a snack, do you want anything?”

“Nah, I’m good. Thanks though.” As Chouji retreated into his kitchen, Shikamaru turned his attention to the tv. Some bullshit about the Suna and Kumo royal families was on. He’d never been particularly interested in politics, especially the works of a neighboring nation, so he had not a single clue about any of these people.

The camera was trained on Suna’s king, a red-haired man that barely looked about his age, followed by a brown haired guy that looked just like him, and a woman who looked _very_ familiar—

Shikamaru froze, then slowly grabbed the remote to pause the DVR.

Was that—

Was that T—

“Chouji, come here,” he called to the kitchen, sounding much calmer than he felt.

“What’s up?” Chouji padded back into the living room, chips in hand.

With a shaking hand, Shikamaru pointed at the screen, “That’s the woman I’ve been sleeping with.”

Chouji blinked at the screen, looking unconvinced, “You sure?”

“Positive.” Shikamaru would recognize those eyes anywhere. He’d spent plenty of time staring into them.

“I dunno…”

Shikamaru pulled out his phone, and brought up Temari’s contact information in his phone. He had a picture of her as her contact photo; she had her tongue sticking out in it. He handed his phone over to Chouji.

His friend looked at his phone, then at the tv screen, then back to his phone. After a few moments, Chouji met Shikamaru’s gaze. “Holy shit dude,” he breathed, “Are you okay?”

Shikamaru’s heart was beating wildly. He was pretty sure he was close to passing out. “I’m fuckbuddies with the goddamn Princess of Suna,” Shikamaru ran a trembling hand over his face, feeling like the world had shifted drastically.

_What the actual fuck._

 


End file.
